Despite all the public health restrictions, people from around the globe were able to connect with some top international artists thanks to the Okanagan Print Triennial.
Hosted by the Vernon Public Art Gallery, more than a dozen artist talks were successfully streamed live in the 2021 event. The virtual series featured artists from Canada, Australia, Bulgaria, Sweden, South Korea, the USA and more, with viewers tapping into the talks from all corners of the world. For those who missed the live talks, the recordings can be viewed on the VPAG website or YouTube channel.
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“When Lubos (the curator at the VPAG) contacted me last year to inform me that the exhibition is moving forward this year, I was beyond excited, in fact, this was the first COVID exhibition that I began to sort of imagine a post COVID life,” said participating artist, professor of art at the University of Michigan, Endi Poskovic.
The OPT is a collaborative project of the VPAG, the Kelowna Art Gallery and the University of British Columbia Okanagan Campus. The concept was created by UBCO printmaking associate professor and artist Briar Craig, in 2009. Since then, it has become a much anticipated international printmaking exhibition worldwide for its unique presentation style and is featured here in the Okanagan Valley. This year, more than 100 artists submitted to the exhibition, the jurors carefully selected 28 artists from around the world to represent the best in contemporary printmaking. Some of those artists presented a short artist talk presentations via zoom, in which attendees had the opportunity to ask questions and speak to the artists directly.
“We are extremely pleased with the success of the OPT exhibition this year, as well as the positive feedback from the artists and viewers who felt the artist talk series raised the bar for this exhibition, and we anticipate more of the same growth in the years to follow,” VPAG executive director Dauna Kennedy said/
In celebration of the successful OPT 2021 exhibition, the VPAG created a short film to showcase the highlights of the exhibition and the artist talks which can be viewed on its YouTube channel.
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